


Test Scores

by oofmilk



Series: The Cracks in the Mask that is Monika [2]
Category: Doki Doki Literature Club! (Visual Novel)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - Not A Game, Angst, Child Abuse, Gen, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Implied/Referenced Sayori/Monika (Doki Doki Literature Club!), Invasion of Privacy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-23
Updated: 2020-06-23
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:00:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24871198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oofmilk/pseuds/oofmilk
Summary: They take the test from her, and Monika thinks her heart may stop.
Series: The Cracks in the Mask that is Monika [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1799629
Kudos: 19





	Test Scores

**Author's Note:**

> a sort-of sequel to [perfectionism](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24869341) that tells of the scene that occurred when monika went home

_Just get it over with._

She can do that. She can do that! She can do that because she’s Monika and she’s perfect and she’s _got_ this. But those words, Sayori’s words, don’t stop the tightness of her chest when she enters her house and sees both of her parents are home, and her mother is drinking the good wine, which she only does when she has a horrible day at work. 

Monika takes a deep breath and rehearses in her head what she’s going to say. _Hello Mother, Father. I received my mathematics test back today, and I unfortunately did not score perfectly this time, but I know for a fact that I will do better next time._ She wants to hit herself for how stupid it sounds. She digs the test out of her bag and walks up to her parents.

“Hello Mother, Father.” So far so good. She holds the test out, face down, hoping they’ll let her finish speaking before looking at the grade. “I received my mathematics test back today, and—“

Her father snatches the test from her hands before she can finish speaking, and her words die on her lips. Monika watches her mother swirl the wine in her glass and leer over her father’s shoulder. She knows they’re looking at the grade. She knows and she’s terrified. Her father puffs on his cigar (cigarettes, in his opinion, are for women and weak little boys, not men) harder, and it’s then that Monika knows she truly is done for, just like she told Sayori.

“Monika, sweetheart,” her mother says, tapping a manicured nail on the grade. “What’s this?”

Monika’s tongue feels like lead. She tries to swallow around it. “I-I unforto— unfortunately did n-not score perflect— _perfectly_ —“

“Get your damn head on straight,” her father snaps, and Monika clamps her mouth shut. “We can’t understand a damn word that comes out of your mouth when you stutter like that.”

“Yes, Father,” she says automatically. Her heart beats like crazy and she thinks she may faint. “I unfortunately did not score perfectly this time, but—“

Pain. It explodes through her face and skull as something sharply strikes her cheek and she falls, her head smacking against the tiled floor of the kitchen with a telltale _thunk._ Monika sees stars and her ears ring, but she can still hear her father above it, shouting and imposing and _angry._

“Get up,” he commands, and Monika tries to scrabble to her feet. 

Clearly she doesn’t get up fast enough, because her father grabs the back of her blazer, catching some of her ponytail in his fist, and hauls her to her feet himself. His nails dig into her biceps, rooting her in place, and he makes no effort to blow his cigar smoke anywhere but her face. She resists the urge to cough despite the burning of her lungs.

“You know how your mother and I raised you, right?”

Monika nods.

“You know you need to not only show, but _be_ perfect one hundred percent of the time to one-up your competition.”

Monika nods.

“So _why_ ,” her father roars, whipping her around to stare at the test her mother is holding, “is this grade not perfect?!”

“I-I, well, y-you see—“

A hand smacks her upside the head. It makes her forehead pound. 

“Speak _clearly_ , Monika, for fuck’s sake. Did you forget everything we taught you?”

“No, Father, I—“

“You what?! You want to come up with some lame excuse?” He grabs her chin and forces her to look at him. “Why is this grade not up to our standards?”

“My meeting with the Literature Club ran late yesterday, so I—“

“The Literature Club,” her mother spits. She steps into Monika’s line of sight. “Nothing good has come from that little club of yours you just _had_ to start.”

“That’s not true!” Monika retorts. Her heart stops for a moment when her mother fixes her with an icy look, but it’s too late to back down. “It will look good on my transcript to have started a club, and I met some new friends through it!”

“Is it these new friends who are causing your performance to slip?” her mother asks.

“No!” Monika exclaims, but she knows they aren’t listening.

“Give that here,” her mother says, reaching for her bag.

“Wh— No! My bag! Stop it!” Monika protests. She tries to free herself from her father’s hold, but it’s a fruitless struggle. “Mother, stop!”

Her mother digs around in the bag until she produces Monika’s phone from it. She casts the bag to the side and begins to go through Monika’s texts. Monika herself feels like her heart may give out, or she may throw up, or maybe both, one after the other, or simultaneously, like some sort of gruesome magic trick. She hopes, she hopes, she _hopes_ her mother doesn’t open the messages with Masashi, because if she does, they _will_ find her admittance to a crush on a certain vice president, and they may actually kill her.

“All you’re doing is spending time _texting_ your friends,” her mother says. She turns the phone off, and Monika feels slightly relieved. “Go to your room.”

Her father lets go of her, and Monika stumbles toward her bag. She picks it up, then holds her hand out for her phone, but her stomach drops when her mother holds it away.

“M-Mother, I need…” She can’t finish her sentence.

“You need nothing of the sort. Your father and I will hold on to this so you do not get distracted again. Go to your room and study, and do _not_ come back down here until you are sure you will achieve perfection.”

Monika nods, and before either of them can hurt her further, she runs down the hall, up the stairs, and to her room. She closes the door (not slamming it, because that isn’t indicative of perfection, and also they’ll kill her) and throws herself onto her bed, sobbing. Stupid, stupid Sayori and her stupid advice and… Monika can’t bring herself to be angry at her best friend.

“You better be studying up there!” her father yells from downstairs, so Monika drags herself out of bed.

She shucks off her shoes and uniform in favor of her pajamas, and she tries to ignore her reflection, which shows herself sporting a handprint already starting to bruise. Monika knows she’ll have to cover it with makeup in the morning, but at the moment she can’t bring herself to care. She sits down at her desk and pulls her mathematics book from her bag, and she starts studying.

Her tears spill down over her cheeks and _plik plik plik_ down onto the pages of her textbook. She wants to text Sayori—she wants to _call_ Sayori—so bad, if only to hear her voice and her assurances. But she can’t, because her mother has her phone, and who knows what’s she doing with it. It’s so _unfair_ , Monika decides, that they’re doing this to her. Still, she sits at her desk, and she studies.

And her desk is where her mother finds her, hours later, asleep and slumped over her open textbook.

**Author's Note:**

> masashi is the name of the protagonist!


End file.
